Mysuru: Prominent Dalit leader of the old Mysuru region, 71-year-old V Srinivasprasad took out a huge rally along with several BJP leaders and filed his nomination as the BJP candidate for Chamarajnagar reserved constituency on Tuesday.
BJP candidate for Chamarajanagar seat V. Srinivasprasad at a rally after filing his nomination papers in Chamarajanagar on Tuesday (Photo: KPN)
A five term MP from Chamarajnagar and a two-term MLA from Nanjangud, Srinivasprasad who is in politics for over 45 years, belongs to the Scheduled Caste (Right). His poll affidavit says he has done his MA in Political Science and is a LPG distributor.
Among the eight assembly constituencies which come under Chamarajanagar, Varuna, HD Kote, Chamarajnagar and Hanur are represented by Congress MLAs, T Narsipur has a JD(S) MLA, Kollegal a BSP MLA and Gundlupet and Nanjangud are represented by BJP MLAs.
Chamarajanagar was listed as backward by the Nanjundappa committee on regional imbalance and is a district where caste plays a vital role in deciding political preferences. It is debatable if Srinivasprasad has the same hold in the region which he enjoyed a decade ago.
According to a senior leader of the region who did not want to be quoted, there are over 30,000 Bhovi community voters and 1.5 lakh SC (Left) voters including Maadiga, Paurakarmika, Kamapana Maadiga and 80 percent of them support the Congress while 10 to 15 percent back the BSP. There are also 2.5 lakh SC (right) voters (the community to which Srinivasprasad belongs) and 60 percent of them support the Congress and 30 percent, the BSP.
Srinivasprasad is therefore banking on the Veerashaiva Lingayats, Brahmins and the Nayaka community. But due to the Badanval and Ummattur riots in the region, the older generation of Lingayats have always been against the SC (Right). Srinivasprasad can however rely on the votes of youngsters who may support PM Narendra Modi to a certain extent.
His opponent, R. Dhruvarayanarayan, a two term MP and two term MLA who is contesting on the Congress ticket said, “In Chamarajnagar there are over 3 lakh Lingayat voters, over 4 lakh dalit voters, over one and a half lakh Uppar community and Kuruba community voters, 75,000 to 80,000 Muslim voters. The Lingayat population is highest in Gundlupet, Chamarajnagar and Nanjangud. But Srinivasprasad lost by a margin of 22,000 votes in the Nanjangud byelection. Unlike in the past, along with caste, people look at one's work in the constituency too. Srinivasprasad's health does not permit him to be active and be available to people to respond to their problems like we do. The fielding of Srinivasprasad come as an advantage for me, because, people have already seen the work done by him during his years as an MP for 25 years. The Modi wave did not work in the previous election.”
But Srinivasprasad's supporters claim he still enjoys the same hold and also has committed BJP votes in his favour.
They also dismissed reports about his health claiming he is quite fine. “Even as revenue minister he attended all meetings related to drought and other issues. The support for him is good,” a supporter said.
